Wireless access points may provide users of Internet-enabled devices with efficient and/or widespread access to wired network connections. For example, an enterprise may provide employees and/or customers with wireless access to a Local Area Network (LAN) by implementing multiple access points throughout a building covered by the LAN. In addition, a router within a personal or home network may include a wireless access point that provides wireless Internet service to multiple devices within a home. To facilitate an efficient connection to a wireless access point, many computing devices may store the configuration details of the wireless access point after connecting to the wireless access point for the first time. When re-entering the range of the wireless access point, such computing devices may request access to the wireless access point and quickly re-connect.
Unfortunately, traditional technologies for connecting computing devices to wireless access points may have certain security deficiencies that leave the computing devices vulnerable to attack. For example, conventional network security systems may fail to provide any reliable and/or trusted techniques for computing devices to verify the legitimacy and/or identity of wireless access points. As a result, an attacker may configure a malicious device (e.g., a so-called WIFI PINEAPPLE) to mimic the credentials of a wireless access point known to a computing device. In other words, the malicious device may represent an illegitimate access point masquerading as the known access point. After the computing device connects to this illegitimate access point, the attacker using the malicious device may view all network traffic distributed to and from the computing device.
The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for improved systems and methods for detecting potentially illegitimate wireless access points.